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SCS News & Press Releases

Carnegie Mellon Prepares To Celebrate 25th Anniversary of its Robotics InstitutePITTSBURGH--Carnegie Mellon University will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its world-famous Robotics Institute with an exciting, thought-provoking, robotics extravaganza that will take place October 11-14, 2004. The four-day event will include something for the research, educational and business communities, as well as for all the people who find robots a continuing source of fascination and entertainment.

On July 22, Jack Mostow gave an invited keynote address in Barcelona, Spain, at the 42nd meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (http://www.acl2004.org/Invited%20talk-Mostow.htm). The title was "If I Have a Hammer: Computational Linguistics in a Reading Tutor that Listens." Abstract:

PITTSBURGH—Computer agents developed by 32 teams from around the world will come together this week at Columbia University in New York City and vie to surpass each other at manufacturing, selling and distributing personal computers in the second annual Supply Chain Management Trading Agent Competition (TAC-SCM) The games were designed by Carnegie Mellon University researchers working with this year's conference organizers from the Swedish Institute of Computer Science (SICS), including Sverker Janson, Joakim Eriksson, and Niclas Finne.Final rounds of the competition will take pl

PITTSBURGH—Jeannette M. Wing has been named President's Professor in Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science (SCS), effective July 1. She succeeds SCS Dean Randal E. Bryant who held the chair from the time it was established in 1997 until being named a University Professor in April 2004.

PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University robotics researchers, in conjunction with the U.S. Marine Corps' Warfighting Laboratory, have developed a small, throwable, remote-controlled prototype robot designed for surveillance in urban settings. Several of the robots are being sent to Iraq for testing.

PITTSBURGH—Five robots will be inducted into Carnegie Mellon University's Robot Hall of FameTM in a ceremony to be held on October 11, 2004, at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh.ASIMO, the world's most advanced humanoid robot, and Shakey the Robot, the first mobile robot able to reason about its actions, will be honored for their scientific achievements. Astroboy, C3PO and Robby the Robot will be honored for their fictional characters and their real inspiration. The robots were selected by a jury that includes leaders in technology-related fields.

PITTSBURGH—More than 50 members of the international press will visit Pittsburgh June 16-18 to attend the international press launch of 20th Century FOX's feature film "I, ROBOT." The film is scheduled for release in July.

PITTSBURGH—Matthew T. Mason, professor of computer science and robotics and a world-renowned expert in robotic manipulation, has been named director of Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute in the School of Computer Science (SCS), effective July 1, 2004. He succeeds Chuck Thorpe, who is moving on to become dean of Carnegie Mellon's campus in Doha, Qatar. A native of Oklahoma City, Mason earned his bachelor's, master's and doctor's degrees in computer science and artificial intelligence from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976, 1978 and 1982, respectively.

PITTSBURGH—Devin Balkcom, a student in Carnegie Mellon University's doctoral program in robotics, was looking for a challenge when he decided to develop the world's first origami-folding robot as the subject of his thesis. Origami, the ancient Japanese art of paper sculpture, looks deceptively simple at first glance. "It's something we humans can do well, but we don't understand the mechanical details," said Balkcom.